Can You Twirk? More Fun Facts About Language

Did you know that set has more definitions than any other word in the English language? It has 464! The Oxford English Dictionary‘s full entry of the word set is two times longer than George Orwell’s Animal Farm!

For our past posts on fun facts about words, click here or here. 

Did you know?

In 16th century English, twirk meant to “twist the hairs of a mustache.” (But notice the difference in spelling. It isn’t twerk!)

In 18th century English a wobble-shop was a place where beer was sold without a license.

The use of the word selfie increased by 17,000 percent between 2012 and 2013. Can you imagine how much it has increased from 2013 to now?

A dazzle is a group of dragonflies. Makes some sense.

An aurora is a group of polar bears. That, too, makes some sense.

Would you rather drink water than alcohol? If so, you are an aquabib.

In Tudor English ducks were nicknamed arsefeet because their legs are so far back on their bodies.

If you are carrying on a conversation with whispers, you are having a toot-moot.

Do you throw many of the initial drafts of your writing into the wagger-pagger-bagger? (1920’s slang for a wastepaper basket.)

To snirtle is to try to suppress a laugh. We need a snirtle emoticon.

Etymologically, Great Britain means “great land of the tattooed.”

Do you go around and drink the heeltaps at the end of a party?? Hope not. (The remnants of a drink left in the bottom of a glass.)

There are no words for yes and no in Latin. (And apparently no questions that require a yes or no answer!)

The sign language equivalent of a tongue-twister is called a finger-fumbler.

The expression “possession is nine-tenths of the law” was originally “eleven-twelfths of the law,” which is smaller. No one knows why it changed.

Enjoy Hangman? A study (who studies these things?) in 2010 found that the hardest word to guess is jazz. (Unless you guess the letter z!)

Earth is the only planet in our solar system that is not named after a god.

The articles a, and and the do not exist in Russian. (I will refrain from making any further comments about this one.)

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Final Cover! Available on Kindle and other e-readers August 15. Preorder available now. If you are unsure where to put those commas (or apostrophes or ellipses or quotation marks or . . . ), you will like this book! Prefer paperback? Available in August.
Please come on down to the Sonoma County Fair if you are in the area (Santa Rosa, CA). Local authors will be selling their books. I will be there on August 4, 5, and 10. 10:30 to 5:30 in the Kraft Building. See you there!